DD Fitness: 5 ways to avoid festive bloat

It’s that time of year again where every house, shop and work place seems to be sponsored by ‘Pringles’ or ‘Roses’.

It doesn’t matter how good you are, you would need the will power of a Tibetan monk to avoid sneaking even one nibble this Christmas.

The inevitable is upon us, so do we give in completely or do we try and have a bit of control over our hand to mouth interaction?

Here are a few things you can do to stem the inevitable Christmas weight gain this year.

Don’t turn up to a party hungry.

If there is one sure way to end up sitting in the corner surrounded by empty Roses wrappers, it is this.

Turning up to a party hungry is a recipe for disaster.

Before you go to a staff party or house party, try and have a good meal.

If you are already full and not hungry you are less likely to binge on everything in sight when you get there.

Don’t sit at the nibbles table.

Everyone wants a comfy seat.

No one wants to turn up to a party and have to stand all night.

But the weigh up between standing and sitting can be a table full of nibbles right in arm’s length.

If you are trying to be a bit good this year, try and not put yourself right in the danger zone by sitting in front of the table of snacks.

You will be mid conversation with all the other party goers and won’t even realise that you’ve polished off the bowl of ‘Bombay mix’ all by yourself.

Pace your alcohol intake

This is a good piece of advice for a few reasons.
First off, if you pace your drinking, you are less likely to get the alcohol munchies early on in the night therefore lessening the damage that you could do. You are also taking in less calories through alcohol.

Secondly, if you pace your alcohol intake, you are less likely to make a shambles of yourself in front of your work colleagues and have your antics on Facebook the next morning.

Avoid excessive drinking and tasting when cooking.

When preparing meals this Christmas try and avoid having the bottle of wine beside your glass.
You will be less likely to keep topping up your glass and the bottle might last you longer than stuffing the turkey.

When preparing the food try and limit the amount of tasting that you do, a taste isn’t a turkey leg while basting.

Walk it off

Finally and on a more serious note.
If you are going to indulge yourself over the festive season, try at least to get up the following morning/afternoon and go for a walk.
You will be burning up a few of the previous night’s treats and it is something that you and your partner, friend or family can do that might just last into the new year and become a habit that you could keep.

Lastly, enjoy yourself and be safe this festive season!

Contact me through the link below and we can arrange a chat where we can map out what you want to achieve in 2017.